


a simple task

by side_stickie_note (lost_stickie_note)



Series: brevityworks [7]
Category: X1 (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Fluff, Humor, M/M, fox familiar!Seungyoun, plant sitting, witch!Wooseok
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:42:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27702265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lost_stickie_note/pseuds/side_stickie_note
Summary: Seungyoun gets tasked with keeping a plant alive, and it's looking bleak.
Relationships: Cho Seungyeon | Seungyoun/Kim Wooseok | Wooshin
Series: brevityworks [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1799431
Comments: 16
Kudos: 31
Collections: Challenge #7 — Mix It Up





	a simple task

**Author's Note:**

> This one was meant to be written for the theme Spellbound, but I realized after finishing that it fits with Blooming too, haha. Either way, just a bit of fluffy goodness and Seungyoun being the bestest boy. ♡♡

Seungyoun stares, ears twitching.

He's a good familiar, able to help concoct all types of magical potions, organized enough to run the shop while Wooseok is gone, knowledgeable enough to even teach a small class on magical cures at the local university. 

So he shouldn't have any difficulty keeping a simple plant alive.

Especially one that's not even magical, a human plant. 

He peers at it glumly, wondering whether it's his imagination that _maybe_ the blossoming white flowers look a little more wilted today, the leaves a little less perky and green.

He decides it needs water.

Seungyoun cautiously fills the small watering can that Wooseok had left him up at the sink, lukewarm from the pipes, figuring that regular water would be better than any water he could conjure out of thin air, not quite certain if human plants should be fed with anything touched by magic. Though theoretically what he's spinning is just natural water itself, pulling the extra moisture out of the air. But just to be safe. 

He stares intently at the plant after tipping in a small amount to wet the soil, hoping somehow that the plant will give him a sign that he's done something right. But nothing happens, and Seungyoun feels stupid for maybe thinking it would perhaps give him a small rustle of its leaves or a slight nod. After all, it's not one of his magical plants, the lot of them sighing happily whenever Seungyoun pleases them or swaying angrily if he does something wrong, or at least as angrily as a plant can sway, Seungyoun supposes.

And after a further fifteen minutes, Seungyoun decides that just _sitting_ there won’t do any good, the only thing of importance he has to offer being water.

Which he had already given.

So he bustles back downstairs to the shop, working instead on tidying up so he doesn’t have to keep thinking about how he’s probably failing Wooseok miserably, the witch needing to attend a gathering in the town over for the weekend. He had given Seungyoun explicit instructions on keeping the shop in tip-top shape while he was gone, closed for the holidays but to reopen on Tuesday. They often have a rush of customers after holiday breaks, and as such, Wooseok had tasked him with some managerial duties, making sure their stock of potions and cures would be ready.

It had only been a passing comment as Wooseok had rushed out the door.

“Don’t let the plant die!”

And Seungyoun’s first thought had been _what plant_.

He had spotted it upstairs after some searching, the potted plant taking up residence on the windowsill of the glass-stained window in the attic, Wooseok’s little hideaway where he hatches new spells and concoctions. Innocuous and a bright spot in the room, sporting dainty white flowers and lush green leaves, the pot a plain clay-brown.

Now, ordinarily, Seungyoun would not be overly concerned. After all, he majored in magical botany for goodness’ sake, confident in his abilities as a so-called Green Thumb, an academic with the highest certificate to be attained in the area of study. But Seungyoun is suspicious. There really should be no reason as to why Wooseok had told him not to let the plant die...unless- Wooseok expected that Seungyoun might _actually_ kill the plant.

It is then he comes to the natural conclusion that it must be a human plant, his fluffy tail drooping in dejection at the realization.

Human plants, contrary to magical ones, are _fragile_.

One wrong touch, and it’s liable to never look quite the same again, whereas he’s fairly sure he could dunk a few of his magical ones into a vat of bubbling acid, and they would still come out kicking on the other end of it. So he hadn’t touched it, hardly daring to breathe around it for fear of something going sideways.

He returns after a few hours of mixing large vats of ingredients together, the humid heat in the basement during potion-making always making his ears itch maddeningly, and it is only after a few moments that he assures himself that his eyes are not possibly playing tricks on him.

Oh no.

The leaves of the potted plant definitely have a slight yellow tinge to them.

Seungyoun gets closer, but not too close, sniffing carefully for a positive sign, alarmed when he can’t smell any signs of healthy life, even with his heightened sense of smell. There should be _something_ , maybe a sweet fragrance from the flowers or the scent of dew from the healthy leaves, but there’s nothing.

He spends an hour scouring for advice for human plants, and in his desperation, he tries every solution he sees that looks as if it might not harm the poor thing. And Seungyoun wonders bitterly what Wooseok will think of him, once his witch has realized Seungyoun had been so useless, not even able to keep _one_ single plant alive over the span of two days.

When Wooseok returns the next day, Seungyoun is in the middle of singing to it, happening upon some accounts that said plants grow better if they are sung to, and Seungyoun had spent the entirety of the morning trying to coax the little thing back to life, the hopelessness setting in as its leaves remained stubbornly yellow.

He greets Wooseok with a heavy heart.

“I think I killed the plant, Wooseok.” Seungyoun feels the possibility of tears coming on.

“What do you mean, silly.” And he feels slightly guilty as Wooseok gives him a pat atop his head, scratches behind his ears, undeserving of such niceties. “You can’t have possibly killed the plant.”

“But I _did_.” Seungyoun insists as he follows Wooseok up the stairs to the attic.

“Seungyoun,” Wooseok pauses to stare at him, stopping in front of the windowsill. “This plant is plastic.”

“Then why did you tell me not to let it _die_.” Seungyoun replies, aghast.

“It was meant to be a joke!”

**Author's Note:**

> 🌱
> 
> Comments, kudos, and feedback appreciated! ♡
> 
> [twt](https://twitter.com/sidestickienote) | [cc](https://curiouscat.qa/sidestickienote)


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